Friday, 22 August 2014

Elgar & Sawyers Violin Sonatas on Nimbus Alliance

There are currently some 24
recordings of the Elgar Violin Sonata in E minor listed in the Arkiv
catalogues. When these include such ‘big’ names as Nigel Kennedy, Hugh Bean,
Tasmin Little and Lydia Mordkovitch, it has to be a
special new release that would prompt me to purchase yet another version of
this great, late chamber work. What the Steinberg Duo have done is to match an
excellent new performance of this Sonata with two impressive examples of the
genre by the contemporary composer Philip Sawyers. It is a good permutation.

I do not intend to give a
biography of Philip Sawyers: there is a perfectly good thumbnail sketch on his webpage. Three
points are worth noting. Firstly, Sawyers has been composing since he was 13. He later studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he
majored violin with Joan Spencer and Max Rostal, and composition from Buxton
Orr, Patric Standford and Edmund Rubbra.

Secondly, it is only in the past
twenty years or so that he has been fully recognised as an important composer,
although I admit to not having consciously heard any music by him until this present
release.

And finally, after a career with
the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Sawyers now spends his ‘spare time’ from composing
as a ‘freelance’ violinist, teacher and adjudicator having spent 12
years as an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
from 2001-2013’.

His
musical style has been summed up by Robert Matthew-Walker writing in Classical Source who reviewed the
premiere of the Second symphony ‘deeply impressive work, serious in tone
throughout, and genuinely symphonic…’ It is a sentiment I can apply to these
present Violin Sonatas with the change from ‘symphonic’ to ‘instrumental’.

The
first violin sonata began life as one for viola. It was written quickly for a
Guildhall student during 1969. Later it
was ‘transcribed’ for another student performer, this time a violinist. What
impressed me about this work was the extraordinary balance between what could
be described as ‘bartokian’ drive coloured by harmonic piquancy and a more
reflective, native sound that sits in a well-defined trajectory of the English Music
Renaissance. I am not sure if the musical material of this sonata is derived
from a ‘series’, but whatever the constructive scaffolding of this music, it is
attractive, inspiring and moving. The
work is in three short movements with the beautiful central ‘andante’ forming its
emotional depth. Stylistically, it must have seemed a very ‘conservative’ work
when it was first performed at the end of the nineteen-sixties, yet the
intervening years have given this music an almost timeless feel.

Musicologists usually regard with suspicion any composer who
does not ‘develop’. They often try to categorise ‘periods’ in an artist’s
musical biography, suggesting that ‘later is better’: that somehow the composer
has been straining towards some particular goal all their creative live. For example, it is a long way, musically, from
Igor Stravinsky’s Russian works, through his neo-classical period to the serial
compositions. There may be connections, stylistic markers and self-references,
but there is also clear development –for better or worse. On this basis Philip
Sawyers’ two violin sonatas he does not appear to have ‘developed’ in a stylistic
sense. What has happened is that he has matured – both at a structural and
technical level. The second violin
sonata is claimed as a twelve-tone work; however the composer wears this
process lightly. He does not allow the ‘series’ to control his ‘inspiration’
–it is a tool, not a straightjacket.
This complex and virtuosic sonata is once again in three movements. The
first, an allegro, is typically a ‘toccata’ balanced by some retrospective
moments. Sawyers has noted that he made a ‘nod’ to the ‘baroque’ in this
movement, but this is no ‘Back to Bach’ exercise. The introverted ‘andante’ includes a hidden
‘brief 4-note quotation from Schoenberg’s 2nd Chamber Symphony’.
Apparently judicious ‘homage’ to other composers is one of his
‘fingerprints.’ The final movement
fairly romps along. This is more a ‘scherzo’ than a ‘sonata’ or ‘rondo’. There
are a number of references to material from the previous movements. The work ends with drama and energy. The
entire Sonata is a tour de force for both performers.

Alongside
the String Quartet and the Piano Quintet, the Violin Sonata in E minor Op.82 represents a late-flowering
of Elgar’s compositional powers. They are commonly known as the ‘Brinkwells’
after the cottage in Sussex where the composer spent time recuperating during
the last year of the Great War. The Sonata was dedicated to M.J. (Marie Joshua)
who was a family friend. Elgar wrote to her, "I fear it does not carry us
any further but it is full of golden sounds and I like it, but you must not
expect anything violently chromatic or cubist". Shortly after receiving this
letter Marie died.

There were many who expected the new Sonata to be reflect the
opulence of his symphonies however the result was much more concise and
concentrated than many of his better known masterpieces. Elgar himself wrote
that ‘the first movement is bold and vigorous, then a fantastic, curious
movement with a very expressive middle section; a melody for violin…they say it
is as good or better than anything I have done in an expressive way…the last
movement is very broad and soothing, like the last movement of the second
symphony.’ There is much passion and ‘violent outpouring of emotion’ in these
pages with the quieter and more tranquil themes reflecting grief, sadness and ultimately
resignation. The final movement is much
more positive in its effect and the work concludes with great hope for the
future. One particularly beautiful moment is the self-quotation of the central
theme of the slow movement in the last pages of the work – this was in memory
of Marie Joshua. Its first public performance was by W.H. Reed and
Landon Ronald on 21 March 1919.

The Steinberg Duo
consist of the husband-and-wife partnership of Louisa Stonehill, violin and
Nicholas Burns, piano. They are based in Greenwich in South-East London and
have created a ‘specialised chamber music studio’ where they hold monthly
recitals. Local residents are encouraged to ‘experience chamber music in its
natural habitat, away from the concert hall’.
For the past two years the Duo has been in ‘residence’ for the month of
January in the Banff Centre in Canada, the venue for the present recording.

As part of their
commitment to contemporary music, they have a strong relationship with Philip
Sawyer. They plan to record some examples of his concerted music, including the
Concertante for Piano, violin and strings.

There is little to
grumble about any aspect of this CD. I guess that Nimbus could have found one
or two smaller pieces by Elgar or Sawyers to boost the total beyond 62 minutes.
The liner notes are excellent and give a helpful introduction to Sawyers’
violin sonatas. A little more general information about this composer would
have been helpful. I concede that Sawyers has an attractive Webpage although this is a little shy on detail. For example, there is no
listing of all his works to date. The link to his music publisher refers
only the 1st Violin Sonata. The liner notes by Nicolas Burns for the Elgar
sonata are ideal. Finally the CD cover
does not inspire me: the pianist sitting on the floor looks as if his shoes
could do with a brush!

I imagine that few
listeners will chose this CD solely
for the Steinberg Duo’s rendition of the Elgar Sonata, in spite of the fact
that it is given an exemplary performance. However, the two Philip Sawyer
Sonatas are such a startling discovery that it makes a surprisingly good
package. The common thread between these three works is the sense of retrospection
balanced by an often intense outpouring of emotion in Elgar’s case and energy
in Sawyers’.

It is good to come across music from a composer who has not
gone down the avenue of producing ‘pop’ or ‘minimalist’ inspired music that
lacks emotion, structure and challenge. After hearing so much Ludovico Einaudi
and Phamie Gow on the airwaves it is refreshing to hear some respectable, honest,
down to earth serial music that delights in a subtle balance between dissonance
and consonance, controlled structure and moments of sheer inspiration. I look
forward to hearing more of Philip Sawyers music.

Taken as a whole,
this CD is an excellent addition to the violin sonata repertoire.

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

About Me

I am well over fifty years old: the end of the run of baby boomers! I was born in Glasgow, moving south to York in the late ‘seventies. I now work in London.
My main interest is British Music from the nineteenth century onwards.
I love the ‘arch-typical’ English countryside – and have always wanted to ‘Go West, Boy’.
A. E. Housman and the ‘Georgian’ poets are a huge influence on my aesthetic. I have spent much of my life looking for the ‘Land of Lost Content’ and only occasionally glimpsed it…somewhere in…???
My recently published work includes essays on Ivor Gurney’s song ‘On Wenlock Edge’ for the Gurney Society Journal, The Music of Marion Scott and a study of Janet Hamilton’s songs for the British Music Society Journal, and the composer Muriel Herbert for the Housman Society.
I have contributed to the journals of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, the Finzi Society, and the Bliss Society, the Berkeley Society, the BMS Newsletter and regular CD reviews for MusicWeb International.